Vehicles powered by internal combustion engines typically include an air cleaner box assembly. The air cleaner box assembly supports a filter element, and includes an air inlet that supplies a flow of air to an un-filtered air chamber of the cleaner box. The air flows through the filter element to a filtered air chamber of the cleaner box. The filter element filters out particulate matter from the flow of air. The air cleaner box assembly includes an air outlet that directs the flow of air from the filtered air chamber to an intake manifold for use as combustion air.
The air cleaner box assembly is typically located in an engine compartment of the vehicle, underneath and adjacent a hood of the vehicle. The hood may be free to crumple inward and/or downward, into the engine compartment, in response to a force applied onto an exterior surface of the hood. Accordingly, a gap is generally disposed between the hood and the top of the air cleaner box assembly to enable the hood to crumple in response to the external force.
The volume and height of the air cleaner box assembly are key design parameters for ideal air induction performance. A larger volume and/or a greater height of the air cleaner box assembly provides better induction pressure performance, reduces snorkel noise, improves snow ingestion performance, and reduces the need for additional tuning elements to reduce noise. However, the volume and/or height of the air box cleaner assembly are typically limited by the gap between the hood and the top of the air box cleaner assembly.